1. Field of the Invention
The present is related to transferring data, and in particular to transferring data between computers, over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the use of the Internet has increased, it has become more common for users to download application programs from a remote server system to their personal computer system. Of course, application programs can be loaded by users using more conventional methods, such as by loading the application from a CD-ROM.
Often, an application can be superseded by an updated version of the application. For example, the new version can fix bugs, provide enhanced security, or additional features. Conventionally, the user may need to visit a Web site, and determine what updates are available, manually select the update, and manually request that the update be downloaded to the user's computer. With some conventional systems, the application program may automatically determine if updates are available, and then download the updated version.
Many conventional update systems download the update to the user's computer using the maximum available or needed user network bandwidth and computer resources. Other conventional systems may download updates in a trickle manner so as not to utilize all of a user's network bandwidth. However, many of the foregoing conventional systems treat all end-users the same, such that if an update systems uses a trickle download process for a given update, the trickle download process is used for all users, while if the download process utilizes all available or needed resources, it will utilize all available or needed resources for all users for whom the update process is being performed.